Snow Can Bring People Together
by Nirex
Summary: Here's a late Christmas fanfic for you guys! It's snowing, and all Ellis wants to do is build a snowman. Oneshot. No pairings, but maybe Nick and Ellis in a friendship way.


**Title: Snow Can Bring People Together**

**Description: It's snowing, and all Ellis wants to do is build a snowman. Oneshot. No pairings, but maybe Nick and Ellis in a friendship way.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Left 4 Dead 2. D: I wish I did...**

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><p>Ellis leaned against the door of the safe room, watching the fluffy white snow flutter to the ground in fascination.<p>

"Ellis, get your ass over here and help us get the supplies together," Coach's voice snapped the mechanic out of his reverie and he turned, a pout playing on his face.

"_Awww, but Coach_, can't we go make a snowman 'fore we go? Look at all the snow outside!"

"Ellis, we don't have time for stuff like that, boy," Coach sighed, ignoring the boy's puppy eyes. Nick scoffed at the younger boy while Rochelle frowned at Coach.

"Oh, come on, Coach. We're not leaving 'till tomorrow and we all could use a break. There's no zombies around either," Rochelle interjected and Ellis grinned happily, glad to have someone on his side.

Coach sighed in defeat but a smirk played on his face.

"Alright, but you're gonna' freeze your hands off making a snowman out there," he laughed. Ellis jumped to his feet.

"Wait a sec'!"

He didn't wait for a reply from the others before sprinting into one of the rooms of the safe house. The others looked at each other awkwardly as the sounds of objects being moved echoed from the room Ellis had disappeared into.

The safe room they were holding out in for the time being was a one floor house with a big living room, a kitchen off to one side, a bathroom, and two bedrooms.

Ellis had gone into the larger bedroom. Nick could only wonder what the kid was doing. The only thing in there was a bed. There was that closet...

Just as Nick realized what Ellis was up to, a loud crash caused the three to jump in surprise.

"Ellis? What are you doing in there, Sweetie?" Rochelle called, worried the young mechanic had injured himself. Her worry was well justified; Ellis always seemed to attract problems that left him battered and bruised.

"Don' worry, Ro. I found what I was looking for," Ellis replied, walking out of the room with a box in his arms and a grin plastered on his face.

Curious, the three moved closer to see what Ellis had found.

In the box was a bundle of clothes. Confused, Coach reached in and pulled out a winter jacket.

"Oh...that's what you were looking for," Coach laughed as he held up the large and bulky jacket.

"Jus' my size, too."

Nick bit back a rude comment at this.

Rochelle didn't find any jackets made specifically for women so she settled for a smaller man's jacket, the sleeves a little on the long side as she tugged it on.

"How do I look, boys?" she asked, striking a little pose. Coach and Ellis chuckled as Nick replied with a, "Beautiful."

Ellis set down the box on the coffee table beside the rest of their supplies before rummaging through it himself. After a moment, said mechanic produced a jacket for himself and four pairs of gloves. He handed Coach and Rochelle each a pair then turned to give Nick a pair.

"Why do I need gloves? I'm not even going outside," Nick grumbled under his breath but he still took them, not wanting the kid to start whining.

Ellis grabbed another jacket from the box, chucking it at Nick who automatically swiped it out of the air.

"Here's a jacket for you too."

Nick scoffed as he glared down at the bundle in his arms.

"What did the jacket do to you, Nick?" Rochelle asked with a small giggle. Nick shot a fiery glare at her that only resulted in Rochelle laughing louder.

"Let's go already! Let's go!" Ellis whined impatiently, jacket and gloves already on as he jumped up and down beside the safe room door.

"We're coming, boy. Slow down," Coach joked, pulling on the jacket and gloves before joining Ellis at the door. Rochelle put the gloves on as she made her way over. This left Nick, who everyone looked at expectantly. This left Nick, who everyone looked at expectantly. He glowered at them before muttering, "you guys go out. I'll catch up."

Ellis didn't even hesitate; he practically chucked the bar that secured the door across the room before kicking the door open and taking off, whooping and hollering at the top of his lungs like a kid in a candy shop. Rochelle laughed as she followed after the boy.

Coach moved to follow after the two but turned back to Nick.

"I know you're not the most social person, Nicholas, but that doesn't mean you can't try," was all he said before closing the door behind him.

"_' I know you're not the most social person, Nicholas, but that doesn't mean you can't try'._ Who does he think he is, my dad?" Nick complained to himself in a childish manner as he shrugged on the jacket. Well, his dad probably wouldn't have said that. He would've said something like '_Nicholas, if you don't get me another beer from the fridge, I won't hesitate to beat the shit out of you'. _That man had always been too busy drinking to show any form of caring towards his son.

He placed the gloves in one of the pockets, grabbed his magnum off of the counter, then went outside, plopping himself down on the step outside the door.

The cold hit Nick like a slap to the face and he shivered, instinctively tugging the jacket tighter around him.

"I hate the cold," he hissed, watching his warm breath rise into the frigid air. Kind of like smoke. He could use a smoke. His eyes drifted down to his jacket, remembering what was still stored in his suit's pocket.

_I still have a few cigarettes left. One wouldn't hurt right now_, he decided to himself, unzipping the jacket so he could retrieve his lighter and a cigarette before quickly zipping it back up, attempting to conserve his already dwindling body heat.

He glanced over at his teammates, watching them as he absentmindedly lit his cigarette. They seemed to be enjoying themselves as they rolled the ball of snow around, not fazed by its quickly increasing size.

"Aw hell yeah! We're gonna make the biggest snowman ever!" Ellis declared loudly, his eyes burning with determination.

"That's the spirit, kid," Coach said with a hearty laugh. They all laughed and chattered to each other merrily as they got to work.

Nick rubbed his temples with an aggravated sigh. _I'm surrounded by children._

"Whatchu' up to, Nick?"

Nick ignored Ellis, instead examining his lit cigarette idly. _If I ignore him maybe he'll go away._

As if reading the conman's thoughts, Ellis grinned before flopping down beside him.

"You can't jus' ignore me."

Nick groaned in defeat, choosing to take a drag from his cigarette as he glared at the kid.

"What do you want, Overalls?"

"I asked whatchu' you are doin' sitting by yourself over here instead of helping with the snowman," Ellis asked again as he rested his head on his hands.

"I'm keeping a watch out for any zombies lurking around and do you actually think I would help with the snowman?"

The mechanic looked up at Nick with that pout of his. "I was kinda hopin' you would. Please man? It's almost Christmas. Have some holiday spirit."

"It's almost Christmas?" Nick had long since forgotten what the date was. When you're busy fighting through a seemingly never ending horde of zombies, the date was the last thing on your mind.

"You know the date?" Nick asked, slightly curious.

"Yeah. It's December 23."

Nick took another puff from his cigarette as he mulled over this information.

"Huh. Who knew," was all he finally said.

"We've been doin' this for a while now," Ellis mumbled and Nick heard the faintest tone of melancholy hidden in the words. Mentally, he sighed. _Great. I guess I have to have a heart-to-heart chat with the kid now, don't I?_

He threw the cigarette to the ground, stamping it out with his foot. Then he cleared his throat.

"I'm sure you want to be with your family right now."

Ellis looked up at the older man, surprised.

"Well, yeah I do. I've always spent every Christmas with my family. 'Cept that one time me and Keith went hunting just before Christmas and we got lost and then-"

"Ellis, is now the best time?"

"Oh. Sorry..."

Nick sighed to himself as Ellis laughed awkwardly. The conman definitely wasn't good at comforting people.

"Hey, listen ki...Ellis. You may not have your family here for Christmas but y-you...you got us I guess. We're kinda like family..."

It took a lot of work to say the heartfelt words and all of a sudden Nick felt like an idiot. He looked at Ellis, waiting for a response.

The mechanic blinked once. Twice. Then he burst out laughing, howling until there were tears in his eyes.

"Oh, wow, Nick! You sounded like one of those embarrassed schoolgirls askin' out their crush!" he snickered, wiping the tears budding in his eyes. Nick glared daggers at the kid, vowing to never try and cheer up someone again. Then all of a sudden strong arms wrapped around him, pulling him into a tight embrace.

"Thanks, man. I needed that."

Nick awkwardly patted the kid on the back.

"Uhh, that's great Ellis, but can you stop hugging me? You're violating my personal space."

Unaware to the two, Coach and Rochelle observed from a distance, leaning against the huge snowball they had given up on trying to roll.

"I knew Nick was a good guy," Rochelle laughed warmly as she watched them quickly pull away from the hug, Nick obviously flustered as Ellis just laughed at him.

"I guess the zombie apocalypse can make you into a better person," Coach smirked.

"Shhh, they're coming over now."

Ellis bounded up to the two, almost tackling them over as he pulled them into a bear hug.

"Merry Christmas, guys!"

"It's Christmas?" they both asked in confusion. Nick wandered over.

"Yup. Apparently it's the 23rd today," he answered, watching the group hug in amusement.

"But it's still not technically Christmas...," Coach pointed out but Ellis ignored the statement.

"Come on Nick, join in the group hug," Rochelle laughed, beckoning him over. He stared at her blankly.

"If you don't you're not getting any food tonight."

Nick muttered obscenities under his breath but moved closer. Ellis quickly grabbed his jacket, dragging him unwillingly into the group hug.

"You really don't give a crap about personal space, do you?"

They spent the last hour of sunlight they got to complete the snowman, this time Nick helping out. The snowman turned out to be slightly taller than all of them when each of them stood beside the snowman to see.

Sadly, they didn't have much to decorate the snowman with so they were forced to scavenge for things to use. Ellis and Nick managed to find some little rocks in the snow that they used as its eyes, mouth, nose, and buttons. They then borrowed two branches from a tree in the yard for the arms. The final touch was a bloody katana Ellis had been using for a while. He leaned it against the snowman.

"Now Frosty here will be able to kill any zombies that try to bother him!" Ellis had exclaimed proudly.

By then, nighttime was near, the sun hanging lazily on the horizon. They all were glad to go inside and warm up.

"Hey, Nick?" Ellis asked as he placed the jacket back in the box where he had found it. Nick threw his in the box too as he looked at the younger boy.

"Yeah, Overalls?"

"Merry Christmas."

"Heh, you too, kid."

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><p><strong>I AM DONEEEEEEE! YYYEEEEAAHHHH! :'D<strong>

**Christmas was more than a week ago but hey, better late than never .**

**I'm sorry for not writing anything in like forever ^^; I tried writing all these fics but I could never finish them. So here, accept this happy little Christmas fic as my apology. I was thinking of making this fic a pile of oneshots but I'll keep it as a oneshot for now XD**

**This is not really supposed to focus on Nick and Ellis but I just love them both so much -3- (even more when they're paired together :D * fangirl mode*). Just think of it as Nick and Ellis bonding :P**

**Now this is totally off topic but if the Special Infected were Christmas-themed, I think the Boomer would be Santa, the Jockey would be an elf, the Witch would be Mrs. Claus, and there'd be like 7 Hunters as reindeer (how many reindeer pull the sleigh? I can't remember .). I was thinking about it for like a day and now I have to write a fic about it :D Maybe I'll save it for next Christmas or something. Anyways...**

**Love it? Review it!**

**Hate it? Review it! (I use your flames to keep me warm during this cold winter -3- It's freezing here in Canada D:)**

**I slaved over a hot laptop making this fanfic for you people (at like 2 in the morning lawl), so the least you can do is favorite it.**

**...Please? :')**


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